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STEPHEN  B.  WEEKS 

CLASS  OF  1886;  PH.D.  THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY 

MBIRAIY 

OF  THE 

UMVERSmY  OF  NdDIIOT  CAWMNA 

TIE  WEEKS  muEmm 


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8061  '12  HVP  Hi 

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REMARKS 


OF 


HOx\.  JOHN  D.  BELLAMY, 


OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 


IN  THE 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  1, 1900. 


^WASHING-TON". 

1900. 


E  E  M  A  E  K  S 


OF 


HON.    JOHN   D.  BELLAMY. 


The  House  having  under  consideration  the  Indian  appropriation  bill- 
Mr.  BELLAMY  said: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  had  the  honor  some  time  since  of  introducing 
into  this  House  a  bill  providing  for  the  education  and  support  of 
the  children  of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  North  Carolina.  On  yes- 
terday the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  very 
courteously  accorded  to  me  an  opportunity  to  address  the  commit- 
tee upon  the  subject.  Several  of  the  members  requested  me,  on 
account  of  their  interest,  to  present  them  to  the  House. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  Indians  of  the  United  States  are  peculiarly 
the  wards  of  the  nation,  and  very  justly  they  should  be  so  regarded 
and  so  dealt  with.  They  were  once  the  proud  possessors  of  our 
soil,  but  to  the  inexorable  decree  of  fate  they  have  succumbed,  and 
the  Teutonic  race,  against  which  in  its  progress  all  less  civilized 
peoples  have  given  away  and  retired,  has  pressed  them  westward, 
and  the  plains  and  forests  of  the  eastern  slope  and  seaboard  of 
America,  once  their  happy  haunts  and  hunting  grounds,  is  inhab- 
ited no  longer  by  them,  except  by  the  remnants  of  a  few  scattered 
tribes  which  almost  have  been,  but  not  entirely,  absorbed  by  con- 
tact with  the  white  man  and  his  allies. 

The  white  settlers  of  America,  while  they  wrested  from  the 
aborigines  the  soil  on  which  they  dwelt,  which  on  account  of  the 
nomadic  habits  of  the  Indian  tribes  could  hardly  be  said  to  be 
possessed  by  them,  have  been  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  his- 
tory imbued  with  a  laudable  feeling  that  justice  and  humanity 
required  that  the  Indians  should  receive  Government  consideration 
and  protection,  that  they  might  acquire  fixed  abodes,  and  by  civil- 
izing influences  they  might,  in  the  course  of  time,  become  co- 
sharers  in  the  blessmgs  of  a  free  Government. 

a  4017 


The  last  tribe  left  lingering  on  the  scene  of  these  once  royal  do- 
mains is  the  Croatans  or  Hatteras  Indians,  inhabiting  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  about  60  miles  from  the  seaboard,  in  the 
counties  of  Robeson,  Scotland,  Richmond,  and  Columbus,  and 
there  they  have  been  for  a  period  so  long  that  the  '•memory  of 
man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary  thereof."  That  they  have  not 
claimed  the  attention  of  the  National  Government  before  is  a 
matter  which  excites  great  surprise  and  is  hard  to  be  explained, 
unless  the  smallness  of  their  number  and  the  lack  of  education 
and  enlightenment  among  them,  and  the  w^ant  of  proper  philan- 
thropy among  their  neighbors,  has  caused  them  to  be  entirely 
overlooked.  And  yet  the  public  mind  has  been  directed  to  them 
on  more  than  one  occasion  when  they  have  shocked  the  country 
by  some  atrocity  which  is  incident  to  the  Indian  character. 

There  are  in  the  settlement  in  Robeson  County,  where  they 
chiefly  reside,  about  3,000  souls,  and  with  the  scattered  families 
in  adjoining  counties  the  number  may  run  to  2,000  men,  making 
the  tribe  about  5,000  people.  .  A  number  of  them  have  migrated 
to  Georgia,  Mississippi,  and  Florida,  where  they  have  become  ab- 
sorbed in  the  body  politic.  They  are  the  most  interesting  people 
in  America,  and  no  tribe  can  appeal  stronger  to  the  tender  sym- 
pathies and  the  generous  beneficence  of  the  American  people  than 
the  Croatan  Indians  of  North  Carolina.  They,  beyond  cavil  or 
doubt,  are  the  descendants  of  the  lost  colony  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
about  which  there  have  been  for  over  three  hundred  years  so  many 
sad  reflections. 

Those  at  all  familiar  with  the  attempts  at  colonization  made 
by  our  English  ancestors  may  recall  the  efforts  of  that  gallant 
knight  and  learned  and  ambitious  favorite  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Not  only  could  Sir  Walter  throw  his  cloak  on  the  wet  ground 
that  it  might  serve  a  footcloth  for  the  dainty  shoe  of  Elizabeth, 
but  he  sought  to  extend  the  domains  of  her  Most  Gracious  Majesty 
that  her  reign  might  become  memorable  in  the  annals  of  history 
and  her  Empire  strengthened  and  enriched. 

In  the  year  1584  Raleigh  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  ships  under  Amadas 

and  Barlow  and  discovered  the  country  that  is  now  known  as 

North  Carolina,  but  then  called  Virginia,  in  honor  of  the  virgin 

Queen.    Soon  thereafter  he  began  to  make  efforts  to  colonize  the 

4017 


new  Eldorado.  Two  attempts  failed:  but  undaunted,  in  1587,  in 
three  ships  under  John  White,  whom*  he  appointed  governor,  he 
sent  over  117  persons,  including  17  women,  and  of  the  fate  of  these 
people  nothing  is  known  or  has  been  discovered  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty from  that  day  to  this,  unless  this  is  shown  by  the  remarks 
I  shall  now  make,  and  which  was  first  attempted  by  my  old  friend 
and  preceptor,  Hamilton  McMillan.  These  117  colonists  were  left 
on  Roanoke  Island,  near  the  "harbor  of  Hatorask,"  and  there,  on 
August  18,  1587,  the  daughter  of  Governor  White,  the  wife  of 
Ananias  Dare,  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  the  first  white  child  born 
on  American  soil,  and  named  and  baptized,  in  honor  of  Her  Majesty, 
Virginia  Dare. 

The  ships,  leaving  the  colony,  returned  for  supplies  and  recruits, 
but  when  they  reached  England  the  Kingdom  was  agitated  by  a 
threatened  invasion  from  Spain.  Afterwards  the  Spanish  Armada 
was  defeated,  and  when  peace  was  once  more  restored  Raleigh 
looked  around  to  provide  for  the  relief  of  his  colony  which  he  had 
planted  in  the  New  World  a  few  years  before.  But  it  was  not 
until  1590  that  Governor  White  was  dispatched  to  their  rescue,  and 
when  he  reached  Roanoke,  in  August,  he  found  the  island  de- 
serted; no  trace  of  a  human  being  could  be  found,  but  at  the  site 
of  the  village  where  the  settlers  were  left  nearly  three  years  be- 
fore there  was  found  a  tree  which  had  been  deprived  of  its  bark 
and  bore,  in  clear  and  well-cut  characters,  the  word  '•  Croatan." 

There  had  been  an  understanding  by  White  with  the  colonists 
before  leaving  that  if  they  should  remove  their  location  they 
should  carve  on  a  tree  the  name  of  the  place  to  which  they  had 
gone;  and  if  they  were  in  danger  or  sore  distress  they  should 
carve  a  cross  above  the  name  on  the  tree.  White  finding  the 
absence  of  the  cross  was  buoyed  with  the  hope  of  their  discovery, 
but  after  all  efforts  to  trace  them  had  proved  fruitless,  he  was 
forced  to  abandon  the  search  and  reluctantly  returned  to  England. 

The  lost  colony  was  never  heard  of,  and  their  sad  fate  is  a  mat- 
ter of  deep  and  pathetic  interest  to  the  American  people.  Whether 
they  went  to  Croatan  voluntarily  or  whether  the  men  were  mas- 
sacred and  the  women  taken  for  wives,  or  whether  both  men  and 
women  intermarried  with  the  Hatteras  Indians  is  only  a  matter 
of  conjecture.  But  one  fact  is  known,  and  that  is  that  Lawson, 
4017 


5 

in  his  history  of  Carolina,  written  in  the  year  1714,  imparts  to  us 

that — 

The  Hatteras  Indians,  who  lived  on  Roanoke  Island  or  much  frequented  It, 
tell  us  that  several  of  their  ancestors  were  white  people  and  could  talk  in  a 
book,  as  we  do;  the  truth  of  which  is  confirmed  by  gray  eyes  being  found 
frequently  among  those  Indians  and  no  others.  They  value  themselves  ex- 
tremely for  their  aflSnity  to  the  English,  and  are  ready  to  do  them  all  friendly 
oflQces.  It  is  probable  that  the  settlement  miscarried  for  want  of  timely  sup- 
plies from  England  or  through  the  treachery  of  the  natives,  for  we  may  rea 
sonably  suppose  that  the  English  were  forced  to  cohabit  with  them  for  re 
lief  and  conversation,  and  that  in  process  of  time  they  confined  themselves  to 
the  manners  of  their  Indian  relations,  and  thus  we  see  how  apt  human  na- 
ture is  to  degenerate. 

Long  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war  there  was  found  settled 
near  Lumber  River,  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C. ,  a  tribe  of  Indians. 
Many  of  them  had  blue  eyes,  and  while  possessing  all  other  traits 
and  characteristics  of  Indians — the  copper  color,  the  high  cheek 
bone,  the  erect  form — yet  they  lacked  the  nomadic  habit.  They 
were  settled  in  a  neighborhood  where  they  still  remain,  then,  as 
now,  cultivating  maize  and  potatoes  and  fruits.  Their  traditions 
then,  as  now,  were  that  their  ancestors,  Indian  men,  married 
white  women;  that  they  came  from  Roanoke  (in  Virginia,  they 
say) ;  that  they  were  driven  away  by  bad  Indians,  and,  as  one  now 
about  90  years  of  age  told  your  speaker,  that  they  were  driven 
across  the  river.  Most  of  them  own  their  own  land,  which  they 
either  bought  from  the  early  settlers — who,  on  account  of  the  In- 
dian being  already  in  possession,  quitclaimed  it  for  a  nominal  con- 
sideration— or  obtained  it  by  an  entry  and  grant  from  the  Com- 
monwealth. The  names  of  the  117  lost  colonists  are  still  preserved 
inHakluyt,  Volume  III,  wherein  is  given  an  account  of  "  The  fourth 
voyage  made  to  Virginia  with  three  ships  in  the  j^ear  1587,  where- 
in was  transported  the  second  colony." 

From  the  list  of  names  are  many  now  and  from  the  earliest 
times  borne  by  men  of  this  tribe,  such  as  John  Sampson,  Robert 
Wilkinson.  Henry  Berry,  Richard  Berry,  John  Burden,  Henry 
Dorrel  (Dial);  John  Cheven,  William  Berden,  and  many  others. 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  their  blue  eyes,  the  tradition  of  the  white 
mothers,  the  locality  from  which  they  came,  the  lack  of  the 
nomadic  habit  derived  from  the  infusion  of  English  blood,  the 
similarity  of  names,  the  tradition  of  being  driven  by  the  bad  In- 
dians across  the  river,  doubtless  by  the  waxlike  and  hostile  Tus- 

4017 


6 

caroras,  who  inhabited  also  the  neii^hboring  coast  country,  prove 
conclusively  to  the  student  of  the  question  that  the  lost  colony  of 
Raleigh  has  been  found.  They  are  a  remarkable  people.  It  is 
said  by  old  residents  that  some  of  these  Indians  were  volunteers 
in  the  Revolutionarj'  war.  That  they  sent  two  companies  to  the 
war  of  1812  is  well  authenticated. 

They  made  gallant  soldiers,  as  a  number  of  our  oldest  inhabi- 
tants can  testify.  From  the  earliest  times  up  to  the  year  1835 
they  went  to  school  with  the  whites,  voted  and  shared  in  the 
privileges  of  citizenship.  But  in  that  year  the  constitution  of 
North  Carolina  was  amended,  and  thereafter  for  a  period  of  thirty- 
three  years  they  were  deprived,  not  only  of  the  right  to  vote,  but 
even  of  the  privileges  of  education,  until  the  constitution  of  1868 
was  passed,  whereby  they  became  restored  to  citizenship  and  ta 
school  privileges  of  the  most  meager  character,  but  such  as  other 
citizens  enjoyed. 

They  were  not  permitted  to  attend  the  schools  for  whites,  and 
therei'ore  were  forced,  if  they  received  any  education,  to  attend  the 
negro  schools.  They  refused  to  a  very  great  degree,  on  account 
of  the  intense  antipathy  they  now  have  for  the  negro.'  the  educa- 
tion m  the  negro  schools  until,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Hamilton  McMillan,  esq.,  the  legislature  of  North  Carolina,  in 
1887,  gave  them  separate  schools  of  their  own. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  between  the  North  and  the 
South  in  1861  these  people,  grown  up  in  ignorance,  but  quietly 
cultivating  their  little  farms,  were  radely  awakened  by  the  Con- 
federate authorities  conscripting  them  and  using  them  as  laborers 
to  build  the  immense  sand  fortifications  at  New  Inlet,  on  the  Cape 
Fear  River,  known  as  Fort  Fisher;  the  same  fortifications  so 
celebrated  as  having  been  the  scene  of  the  greatest  naval  bom- 
bardment of  the  worlds  history,  as  compared  with  which  an  offi- 
cer who  was  at  Sebastopol  said: 

The  siege  of  Sebastopol  as  compared  with  the  siege  of  Fort  Fisher  was  but 
child's  play. 

The  work  was  hard,  the  Croatan  murmured;  he  then  deserted 

and  fl.ed  to  the  swamps  of  his  native  heath.     The  conscripting 

officers  pursued  them.    Arresting  an  old  Indian,  they  asked  him 

why  he  deserted.    He  told  them  that  he  did  not  want  to  work  or 

4017 


fight  for  a  people  who  treated  him  so  unjustly;  that  before  1835 
he  voted,  he  went  to  school,  but  since  then  he  had  been  deprived 
of  both,  and  that  he  would  neither  work  nor  fight  for  the  Con- 
federacy, And  thus  it  was  they  were  arrested  and  deserted. 
When  at  the  close  of  the  war  many  of  them  were  in  hiding,  they 
committed  acts  of  depredation,  for  which  they  were  properly  out- 
lawed, and  then  arose  the  band  known  as  the  Henry  Berry  Lowery 
gang.  For  years  they  became  a  terror  to  the  country,  and  in  the 
early  seventies  this  band  of  Indians  shot  down  and  killed  27  white 
men  from  first  to  last  among  the  wealthiest,  the  bravest,  and 
best  men  of  that  county.  The  leader,  Henry  Berry  Lowery.  was 
finally  killed,  peace  and  quiet  was  again  restored,  and  under  the 
benign  influence  and  rule  of  our  people,  inaugurated  in  the  year 
1887,  they  are  becoming  good  citizens. 

There  is  still  much  ignorance  and  a  strong  propensity  to  vio- 
late the  internal  revenue  laws  among  some  few  of  them,  but  it  is 
because  they  know  not  the  sinfulness  of  the  violation  of  law.  They 
from  time  immemorial  have  raised  fine  fruit  and  grain,  and  have 
always  distilled  brandy  and' whisky,  and,  like  some  other  citizens, 
they  feel  that  it  is  an  unjust  interference  with  their  natural  rights 
to  prevent  them  from  converting  their  waste  products  into  a  sala- 
ble article.  Many  of  the  cases  in  our  United  States  courts  for 
manufacturing  without  license  are  from  among  these  people. 
They  are  and  have  always  been  a  distinct  people.  They  are  true 
friends,  but  bitter  and  implacable  enemies. 

They  are  brave,  but  reckless.  They  are  honest  in  their  dealings. 
They  are  intensely  religious.  They  are  restless,  active,  and  ener- 
getic. Indolence  and  sloth  are  not  known  among  them.  They  are 
eager  for  education.  They  are  capable  of  intellectual  and  moral 
development,  as  is  attested  by  some  among  them.  A  number 
have  become  successful  merchants.  One  of  them  filled  the  posi- 
tion of  United  States  Senator  from  one  of  our  sister  Southern 
States.  The  descendant  of  another  has  become  a  member  of  Con- 
gress. 

Now,  these  are  the  people  I  commend  to  the  kind  consideration 

of  the  American  Congress.    Their  school  f-acilities  are  poor.     By 

extending  them  aid  you  are  giving  expression  in  substantial  form 

to  that  noble  sentiment  of  justice  inherent  in  our  people  and  which 

4017 


8 

has  urged  our  Government  to  make  large  appropriations  for  the 
education  and  support  of  Indian  tribes  which  passes  each  session 
of  Congress.  No  tribe  is  entitled  to  more  at  our  hands:  and  if  in 
the  providence  of  God  they  be  elevated  by  a  sound  moral  and 
mental  training  inaugurated  by  the  Government,  history  will  yet 
say  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  did  not  plant  his  colony  in  vain,  and 
there  will  yet  arise  some  gifted  American  writer  who  will  perpetu- 
ate in  song  and  weave  in  fiction  the  storj'  of  the  Croatan  Indians, 
the  descendants  of  the  Indian  chief,  Manteo.  created  the  first  Lord 
of  Roanoke,  and  of  Virginia  Dare,  the  first  white  child  born  on 
American  soil.  [Applause.] 
4017 


I 


FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTK 


Form  No.  A-368,  Rev.  8/95 


iiiiiiiiiiiiliv 


■!!!|!;'"---- 


